And on mainland Britain, a report by the Department of Transport, after a review of the available research, says there is no clear evidence to support the view that helmets protect from serious injury.

al the data is out there - more folk will die from the extra cars and the lack of exercise than will be saved by helmets. This is the experience from everywhere that has done this.

I have nothing to add apart from I don't think helmet law should be compulsory apart from for children. Adults can decide what to do with their lives. My view on helmet use has been made quite clear before. Please see previous threads.

Any helmet laws very clearly ignore the rampaging bull in the china shop, as Copenhagenize says. It's the motorists that cause the deaths and injuries, not the cyclists. Perhaps something should be done about them. Oh no, of course not.

The question that the MLA in question needs to be asked is who is going to ensure that it is carried out? Is this just another pointless job for the Police? I bet they will be overjoyed.

What happens about kids who leave home with helmets and then take it off. Who is responsible to ensure that they put it back on - or will we have a whole generation of kids who are punished for not wearing a helmet!

Pointless law - perhaps there are other more important items that the MLA could spend is time on!

I personally think if you don't wear a helmet of your own volition then you are an idiot.
Compulsory laws only serve to attempt to protect those idiots who chose not to do something that us non-idiots do as a course of self-preservation.
If the fear of head injuries isn't enough to make them wear them then a new law sure isn't going to either!!

I'm sure compulsory helmets would make cycling safer but duller.
Compulsory walking helmets would make walking safer but duller.
ditto driving, sailing, football.
I had a light fitting fall on me whilst recklessly using a P.C. without safety kit

I think the twisted logic is this... Its being proposed by people who don't cycle, but are worried they might crash their cars into the increasing numbers of cyclists. Forcing them to where helmets will mean you don't have to worry any more, "solving" the problem by lowering the perceived risk of danger to cyclist by drivers car, whilst not actually solving the problem of cyclists being run over.

This is backed up the usual comments about road tax, insurance, traffic lights, pavements and license plates.

Let's assume for the sake of argument that every face injury was a head injury a helmet might have helped. So around 1% of head injuries are to cyclists but we are the group getting singled out for compulsion?

the bike chain: Would you concede that more minor injuries are protected against such as striking the head off fixtures such as tree branches and minor slow moving falls where the head contacts the ground?

possibly - although its almost impossible to prove. However does the helmet also make you less worried about minor falls and therefore take bigger risks?

LHS:I have nothing to add apart from I don't think helmet law should be compulsory apart from for children.

and yet most children I see have inappropriately fitted helmets which offer little protection (or may even be more dangerous) - but would in all likelihood not result in any enforcement action.

highclimber :
Cyclists admitted to hospital following collisions with motor vehicles are most likely to have injuries to the head or face (49%)

by that fact alone I stand by my opinion that people are idiots for not wearing a helmet when cycling on the road.

Its a shame that you didn't quote the whole section! Which continues: "... [helmets] are most effective at low impact speeds (approximately 13 mph or less), such as when a cyclist falls from a cycle without the involvement of other vehicles.". i.e. helmet not very effective in the situation you are most concerned about (hence why such high proportion of injury despite the relatively high levels of helmet use).

Well personally I think anybody who thinks all those not choosing to wear helmets are idiots is themselves a complete idiot. Hope that's alright with you?

Yeah that's fine with me we are all entitled to our own opinions.

I will run the risk of being an idiot by your definition without the risk of being an idiot by mine.

Statistics aside, I definitely believe wearing one is a much more sensible option and my justification for this is that it effing hurts when your head hits the ground and I firmly believe that had I not been wearing one when I got knocked off by a taxi my injury would have been a lot worse.